Pat Martin swears off Twitter following tirade

Outspoken and often controversial NDP member of Parliament Pat Martin has deleted his Twitter account after an online tirade laced with abusive language Wednesday evening.

The account, which had more than 9,000 followers, was shut down Thursday after the MP from Winnipeg Centre issued one last tweet — an apology.

"I apologize for my regrettable and inappropriate language. It seems some people shouldn't tweet so with this, I sign off," he wrote.

NDP spokesman Karl Belanger quickly confirmed Martin's decision.

"These comments were simply inappropriate and unacceptable," Belanger said in a statement. "Mr. Martin agrees and we understand that he has decided to stop using his Twitter account."

2nd profanity-laced tirade

Wednesday's tirade was apparently prompted by the Conservative government's failure to invite him to an announcement in his own riding.

“I’m not ‘worked up’ so much as ‘fed up’ with the rat-faced whores in the CPC [Conservative Party of Canada] who neglect to invite me to announcements in my riding,” he responded when someone commented on his posts, which included some particularly scathing and personal insults aimed at Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, another Manitoba MP.

Among other things, Martin described the Conservatives as "truly bad people" who won last year's federal election using "American-style dirty tricks."

During his rant, Martin also criticized Toews for providing federal funding to Youth for Christ, a faith-based group, to build a recreation centre in Winnipeg's inner city.

He previously slammed the funding being given to a group he said has fundamentalist Christian views and a mandate to convert youth.

In his Twitter outburst, Martin said the funding was wasted on a U.S.-based group and the building is rarely filled.

Wednesday wasn't the first time Martin had raised eyebrows on Parliament Hill and across Canada with Twitter-based vitriol.

In November 2011, he went on a similar profanity-laced tirade when the government used procedural tools to shut down debate on a budget bill.

Response from Toews, Mulcair

Toews released the following statement Thursday afternoon in response to the "attacks" made by Martin.

“Rather than commending Youth for Christ for the exceptional work they do both in Manitoba and around the world, NDP MP Pat Martin launched into a rambling tirade against the organization through Twitter last night.

"For a sitting member of Parliament to attack an organization with blatant mistruths is both irresponsible and disgraceful," Toews said.

"In the midst of his outburst, I understand that Pat Martin was upset about being left off the guest list for another announcement I made earlier this week that would see new residential accommodations built for newcomers.… Given that the bulk of the money was allocated by the provincial NDP government, I have to wonder why they also chose not to invite him. Clearly even his own party doesn’t want him at events.”

A one-line statement was released by the office of NDP Tom Mulcair, leader of the official opposition, on Thursday.

"These comments were simply inappropriate and unacceptable. Mr. Martin agrees and we understand that he has decided to stop using his Twitter account."